Strength of Will
by Arianrhod1
Summary: Brennan is in the hands of a man who will stop at nothing to exterminate elementals... can Mutant X save him? Content Warnings: Violence, torture, mild language
1. Power and Will

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Strength of Will

Disclaimer: I won't own them. Ever. But I can wish....

Author's note: I used to be a big Brennan/Emma fan. After I read a few fanfics, I was converted to Brennan/Shalimar, which is good, since Brennan/Shalimar is definitely happening on the show..... yay! 

This is dedicated to my friend Pilla, who promised to read this even though she's never seen an episode of Mutant X.

Well, I hope you enjoy this, pleeease review.

******

Brennan sighed deeply, and inhaled slowly. In and out. In. And out. He reached inside himself and felt the shimmering reservoir of pure power flowing in his center. He breathed the power. He felt the crackling electricity of it. He felt his control. His will to harness the flow of his power, to make it do what he wanted and not to overwhelm him. He rode the whirlwind of force......

"BRENNAN!"

"Ah!" Brennan was wrenched out of his meditation, and jerked backwards

"Sorry, Brennan. You looked a little out of it, and you weren't responding to me." Shalimar said apologetically, moving to sit down on the side of the pond next to Brennan.

"I was *trying* to meditate." Brennan snapped, but softened his words with a smile.

"Well, you were trying to hard. Anyway, it's lunchtime, and Emma is doing something or other with Adam, and Jesse's checking the safe houses, and I don't want to eat all alone...." She turned to Brennan and gave him her best pouting face.

Brennan laughed. "You pussy! Alright, I'm coming." 

Shal smiled playfully at him and batted at his arm. "I'll run ahead. Don't take your time."

Brennan smiled after her. She was such a good friend, and she could almost be.... but, no, she was first and foremost his friend. And partner.

Stretching his arms out in front of him, he unfolded his legs and hopped forward of the edge of the pond where he normally meditated. And before he could do more than tense a muscle, something slammed into his head and he felt himself fall backwards, into the pond and into oblivion.


	2. Water

Author's Note: Thank you, all those who reviewed! I'll try not to leave you hanging for too long. Sorry also for the shortness of the last chapter, but I had no idea where I was going when I wrote that. I think I do now..... so read on and review!!

Disclaimer: Duh, I don't own them. That doesn't mean I'm happy 'bout it.

~~~~~~~

Emma stood entirely still in the middle of the hallway. _This is one of those really weird times where I can't remember where I was or what I was going to do, isn't it? Shoot...._ She looked around. She wasn't hungry, she didn't have to go to the bathroom. What had she been going to do? She growled in frustration, and headed over to a bench beside the pond to meditate. Maybe it would help her remember....

As she rounded the corner, Emma froze as she took in the strange sight that met her eyes. Brennan lay sprawled half in the pond and half out. And he wasn't moving. _Do something!_ Emma screamed at herself, but her limbs were completely unresponsive. Her voice caught in her throat.

"A-- Adam!" She finally sputtered. "ADAM!"

The sound of her own voice released her from paralysis and she ran forward to Brennan and grabbed one of his feet, trying to haul him out of the water. "Adam, help!" She shouted again.

Footsteps raced down the hallway. "Emma, are you....?" Adam said breathlessly as he reached her. Then he saw Brennan and left words behind as he rushed forward to help her. Being stronger where she was not, Adam reached under the water and grabbed Brennan's shoulders and hauled him forward. His eyes were closed and his body was limp. "Emma, wake him up!" Adam commanded. "He has cough the water out!"

Emma looked away, gathering her mental power into her center. Snapping her head over to look at Brennan, she immediately sensed a foggy confusion and shock beneath his unconscious surface. She gave him a bit of a mental slap, and his eyes flew open instantly in response.

Brennan's first response was to inhale, but his airways were blocked with water. Choking, he fell forward in Adam's grip, trying to cough, but not able to breathe in and do so. Adam started pounding him on the back. Emma leaned forward and caught his gaze, full of fear and panic. She reached again into his mind and gave him the impression that he could breathe normally and had plenty of air in his lungs.

Brennan stopped struggling and made one wrenching cough, and spewed out what looked like half the pond's water onto Adam. "Thanks," Adam murmured, but steadied Brennan as he violently coughed his lungs clear.

"What's going on in he...." Shalimar demanded, emerging from behind Emma. She had heard a commotion and shouts and had decided to check it out. As soon as she took in the scene, Adam bracing a shivering Brennan, Emma at his side trying to calm him as he took a few quaking breaths, Shalimar's insides froze. "What happened?" She continued, running the remaining distance between herself and Brennan.

As Shalimar took Brennan's hands in her own, Adam looked up and replied, "I don't know. Emma found him like this. Did you see anything?"

Shalimar shook her head. "No. I had just asked him to come eat, and he said he was coming, and that was...." Shalimar paused. " I think that was about five minutes ago."

"Five minutes!" Adam said incredulously.

"He told me to go ahead, he'd catch up!"

"It's okay, Shal. He obviously didn't mean he was going to conk out in the pond and nearly drown himself."

"No really." Brennan said weakly, turning their attention back to him. He looked a little more together, and less like a half-drowned cat. "I would have skipped that, thank you."

"Let's get you to the lab." Adam said, shaking his head. "I don't think the water hurt your system, but just to be sure."

"Right." Brennan politely shook off their hands and stood up slowly. "I'm just a little stiff..." He tried to walk forward and found himself falling sideways. "And just a little weak, too, I guess." Brennan cursed as he stumbled into Shalimar. "Sorry, Shal."

"Stop being macho." She scolded him lightly and draped his arm around her shoulders, offering her support. Slowly they started toward the lab. Brennan revived more and more as they progressed, and by the time they reached the lab doors he could almost walk without assistance.

Adam went over to a console and started prepping for a scan while Emma and Shalimar helped Brennan ease into the chair. The scan was over in matter of seconds, and Shalimar started to dry Brennan off. "Hey, watch the hair!" He laughed as he dogged her lashing out with the towel.

"Well, the scan shows that other than being a little cold, and definitely wet, you're fine." Adam said from across the room.

"Good. Now could you make him stay still so I could get him dry?" Shalimar called to Adam as she glared at Brennan, who was deftly evading her towel. Emma just stood by and laughed.

Adam came over to the chair. "Brennan, sit still and tell me how you ended up in the pond. I'm pretty sure you didn't pass out, but I need to know for sure."

Brennan sat back and allowed Shal to dry his arms and hair. "Well, I don't think I passed out. I was just stretching, and then I got up to go eat with Shalimar. It was only a few seconds after she left, I think. As soon as I stood up, something hit me in the head and then I don't remember anything."

"Well, that explains how you got in the pond, not why or how it happened." Adam said, pacing at the foot of the chair.

"Don't look at me. I'm the victim here." Brennan protested.

"Brennan, this is Sanctuary. Things aren't going to randomly fly around and hit you in the head unless one of us is a telekinetic. And I don't think...wait." Adam stopped pacing and looked up. "Emma, I want to scan you."

"What? Do you think I'm mutating?" Emma asked, startled.

"I don't know, but I can find out. Brennan, why don't you and Shalimar head back to your room while I check Emma out. Shal, don't leave Brennan alone, in case he's the target of, well, whatever this is." Adam said.

"Aw, Brennan's too cute to be left alone. Don't worry, I'll protect him." Shalimar said, teasing.

"I resent that." Brennan shot back. "But not too much."

"Alright, you two. Go." Adam said, shaking his head at them. Brennan got out of the chair and Shalimar pushed him out of the lab ahead of her. 

"Hey!" Adam heard Brennan protest in the hallway. Turning back to Emma, he reassured her with a smile at Brennan and Shalimar's antics, and went to initiate the scan.

In the hallway, Shalimar joked with Brennan on their way back to his room. Brennan opened his mouth to tell her to wait outside while he changed into dry clothes, but he didn't get any words out. He was only able to register the momentary shock in Shalimar's eyes as they were both blown backwards into a wall.


	3. Trials of the Heart

Disclaimer: See Ch. 1 and 2. It's the same.

Dedication: This is dedicated to all those who have kept asking for me to write more or telling me that I wrote too short. Hopefully this is longer.

Author's Note: Due to popular demand (heheh) I have decided to write longer chapters. I should be able to-- I just finished the mother-of-all lab write-ups, and it's clear sailing from here till the end of the year!! However, it might take me longer to update... I'm a diagnosed procrastinator. Moving on....I'll also try to get more S/B romance in, but don't expect any senseless sex. I think I finally know what is going to happen in this story, so I should be able to develop S/B a little more.......And of course, there will be more Brennan-bashing. Sorry, I get a kick out of having the girl comfort the hurting guy, because it allows for soo much romantic development! But don't worry, Shalimar won't be spared any pain. Anyway, on to the story.

BTW: indicated that weird grayish place inside people's minds that Emma sees/goes into when she is meditating or reading someone. For this fic, I'm callin' it a "dreamscape" 

You know how it goes... read and review!!!

The first thing Shalimar could feel was her face, pressed uncomfortably against the cool floor. Next she could feel an ache, an ache that was her body. It felt like she'd been flung against a wall. _Isn't that ironic...._

Slowly she eased herself up from where she lay. Her eyes refocused quickly, a perk of her 'feral-ness'. And the first thing her eyes saw terrified her.

Brennan was laying still, unmoving, a few feet from where she was. He didn't twitch and she couldn't hear him breathing.

Shalimar sprang quickly to her feet, running to his side faster than she had ever ran in her life. _Oh god, there has to be a pulse, there's gotta be a heartbeat! Brennan, oh god, no, you can't be.. no..._

"Adam!" Shalimar screamed while searching for his pulse. "Emma!"

Adam came racing from the lab, Emma close on his heals. His face was a grim mask of worry for the second time that day. Seeing Brennan on the floor, he rushed to her side and kneeled, feeling for the same nonexistent pulse Shalimar sought.

Shalimar looked to Adam, terror plain on her face. "No, Adam, he's not." She nearly yelled at him, when he looked up at her. The answer was on his tongue. No pulse.

"Shal, it's too late. I don't know why, but his heart just stopped. It's too late..."

"Move." Emma commanded them aside with a word. "I can save him."

Shalimar didn't even question her, but moved from his side in a flash. Not even daring to hope for a second that Emma could save him. Adam, however, had to ask the question.....

"How? He's already...."

"Just move." Emma wouldn't be delayed. Firmly nudging Adam out of the way, she grasped Brennan's limp head in her hands, and brought his closed eyes up to meet hers.

_Emma met him in the foggy dreamscape of the mind she had become so used to. Anything was possible here. _

Could she save him?

He was sprawled out on a bed, in a peaceful sleep. A sleep he would never wake from if she failed.

Emma approached him. When she was a few feet away, she brought her hands in front of her like she had seen him do so many times, and harnessed the blue bolts of electricity.

Anything was possible.

High voltage. Blue lightning lanced from her fingertips and enveloped the sleeping figure. Brennan's body arched. Still, he did not wake.

Again. His body convulsed in response. Still.... he was asleep. 

Dammit, Brennan! Wake up! The last time. This time she willed with all her power that his body thought it was being shocked. It knew_ it was being shocked. And it would restart its own heart._

One last time. And his eyes flew open

Emma's eyes snapped open and she jumped away from Brennan as if shocked. As soon as she did so, his back arched against the floor and then collapsed, and his eyes flew open. 

"Shal. Shal!" Brennan yelped, pushing himself painfully upright.

"Shhh. Sh. Brennan, I'm right here." Emma and Adam stepped back and allowed Shalimar to go to Brennan, and help him up. 

"Geez. I feel like someone hit me with some of my own power." He groaned as he stood up.

"Sorry, Brennan. I did." Emma said regretfully.

"Uh, you did? To ask the obvious question.. how?"

"Well, really, I didn't."

"So you did, but you really didn't."

"I told your mind that you were being hit with your own power. Because I'm a psionic, your mind believed me, and told your body that it was being hit. Thus, your heart restarted."

"My heart was stopped?"

"Yeah."

"Oh." Brennan looked down at Shalimar. "We were walking down the hallway. Then we were thrown against the wall, by nothing, and my heart stopped." He paused, taking it all in. "Are you okay?" He asked Shal.

"Sore, but fine." She answered. "I'm more worried about you." Her eyes were filled with something. Worry, sympathy, and a little something more... something just for him..

"Can I go to bed?" Brennan asked all of the sudden. All he wanted to do was lay down and sleep. He could feel a nasty headache coming on, and he was still in his wet clothes from when he almost drowned himself.

"I want to check out you and Shalimar to make sure that you aren't injured-- you can't sleep with a concussion, but if everything checks out, yes, you may." Adam replied, ushering them back into the lab.

"Who has it in for you, huh, Brennan? Any old enemies or jealous exes coming back to haunt you?" Shalimar said with a smile as Adam prepared for yet another scan. 

"No one that could attack me inside Sanctuary, that's for sure." Brennan answered. "Hey, Emma, did you find out if you're a telekinetic now?"

"No, I'm not mutating. But someone wouldn't have to be telekinetic to get any of us, really." Emma said thoughtfully.

"What?" Shalimar scoffed. "You've got to be kidding me."

"No, Emma's right." Adam said, turning around to look at them all. "Just like Emma was able to start your heart up again without actually doing anything. She just told your mind that your heart was still beating, and your body reacted in kind."

"Okay. So what exactly have we figured out?" Brennan asked confusedly.

"If someone were a strong enough telepath, and I mean, a _really _strong telepath, a 'way-off-the-charts-I-can-twist-the-whole-world's-mind-around-my-finger' kind of strong, they _might_ be able to attack you from a distance. Make your mind think you got hit in the head or thrown into the wall. Or thatyour heart stopped." Emma shuddered. "Maybe."

"Why me? Why not Shal, Adam, or even you? Or Jesse, who's probably closer to the mysterious telepath dude than we are." Brennan questioned. "What kind of telepath would want to knock me around here, where you guys can just scrape me off the ground again and again and again? What's he getting out of it?"

"And why did he get me this last time?" Shalimar put in, looking at Emma and then Adam.

"I don't know." Adam replied, but something in his eyes shifted. Brennan could tell; Adam knew, or he could make a pretty close guess. Brennan glanced at Emma and Shalimar. They seemed oblivious to the tiny gesture. Adam continued, "We should have Jesse come back here anyway, just in case. Like you said, he could be more vulnerable."

Emma nodded and left to call Jesse over the safe-house phone system. Adam turned back to the wall as the holographic screen displayed their scan results. "Everything checks out. You'll be sore and there'll be bruising, but no injuries. I suggest you, Brennan, go to bed. Shal, you can go to bed too, or watch Brennan."

"Three guesses at what I chose, and none of them count!" She smiled playfully at Brennan, who looked at her plainly shocked, and then smiled.

"Fine, you can watch me, but give me a minute to talk to Adam." Brennan told her, and she scampered off smiling.

"What's with her?" Brennan asked as soon as she was gone. "Maybe she hit her head a little harder than you thought. Wouldn't have guessed that she'd volunteer for 'Brennan watching' duty."

"She's very protective. Especially of those who are close to her." Adam said, eyeing Brennan out of the corner of his eye. Something was going on between those two. They had been pulling closer and closer. This, however, was not the time to be talking about a budding romance between his children.

"What did you want to talk to me about? Without Shalimar?" Adam skipped right to the point.

"You know why this is happening. I could see it in your eyes. And you don't want to tell us." Brennan followed suit, and was blunt.

Adam sighed and shook his head. "One of these days you'll be wrong, and then I will laugh...."

Brennan smiled. "Does this mean I'm right?"

"Right again. Yes. Anyway, I don't know for sure. I just have an educated guess..." Adam tried to avoid telling him exactly, but Brennan wouldn't be deflected.

"Well, how 'bout letting your buddy Brennan knowing what's going on since it's his butt that's being kicked all the way around Sanctuary and back." Despite the joking tone of his response, Brennan's face was emotionless. He didn't enjoy getting his ass whooped by someone he couldn't fight. Or couldn't see, for that matter.

Adam sighed again. He might as well give in; Brennan wouldn't drop it now. "Alright, alright. My guess is that your the only one here that this unknown psionic can get at. Shalimar and Jesse don't meditate or work with their minds at all, and Emma is another psionic. She has shields. You, on the other hand, meditate frequently to control your power, and have absolutely no shields. Perfect target."

"Okay. That explains the 'how' and the 'why' I can take a pretty good guess at. Do you think this psionic is working with Eckhart?" Brennan fidgeted uncomfortably. Having a GS agent in his head and knocking him around was far from a pleasant experience. At all.

"I thought he might be at first, but now it doesn't seem so likely. Any psionic that powerful working for Genomex would have already gotten the information from your head on the location of Sanctuary. This place would be swarming with agents already." Both of them took a moment to shudder at the thought. "So they must be some new mutant on the loose, probably on the run from the GSA."

"So why is he after me? Unless he's some sadistic maniac like Henry wa-" Brennan never got to finish the end of his sentence.

This time the attack came with no fanfare and no forewarning. He wasn't even hurt. Adam cursed as he tried to catch Brennan as he crumpled to the floor.

I debated ending it here, but that would be too cruel. I tried to make this longer, but I'm not sure if it is. Sorry if you're getting bored because my writing is pretty much based on dialogue. I had to use this part to explain what is going on. Btw, the reference to 'Henry' was from 'Nothing to Fear' in case you're not up on the show. Well, there's only a little more to go.....

"Damn, three times in one day! Why!" Adam cursed as he tried to keep Brennan from collapsing to the floor. Brennan was entirely limp and was leaning deadweight onto Adam. This was not going to last much longer.

Two seconds later, Adam managed to shove Brennan into the chair. Next - call Emma.

"Emma! It's happening-" Adam didn't even have to say 'again' before Emma was in the lab running to Brennan's side.

"It's happening again, isn't it." Emma said resignedly as she gripped Brennan's head in her hands. Adam stepped back and let her do whatever she was doing, and went back to prep for another scan.

Shalimar burst threw the door a second later. She nearly knocked Emma out of the way before she realized Emma was in a trance with Brennan. Without losing a beat she dodge around Emma and went to Brennan's other side.

"Brennan, Brennan, please. Snap out of it! Fight it! Don't you dare di-well, don't you dare do anything! Fight, you wimp! Come on.." Shalimar grabbed his hand and started yelling senselessly at Brennan, fighting to keep the fear out of her voice. Her hands were shaking, and she was striving to keep herself calm.

Adam looked over and saw Shalimar standing there. Terror was etched into her face. He went to stand beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder, trying to be reassuring. Emma was still locked in the trance, and Shalimar was still screaming at Brennan to wake up. Adam could do nothing, just stand there, frozen, feeling helpless like he had never felt before.

After seconds that felt like hours, Emma blinked and took her hand from Brennan's face. Brennan did not move. No one moved.

"Emma?" Adam said quietly.

"He's sleeping-- deeply."

"What happened?" Shalimar asked, her voice husky and raw.

"I think, the psionic was attacking him on a more personal level. Getting in his mind, making him live a nightmare, if only for a few seconds. As soon as I showed up, the psionic ran, and I made Brennan sleep."

"Were you able to see anything or read anything on the psionic?" Adam asked.

"Only a little. I'm not sure you want to hear it." Emma said, avoiding making eye contact with either of them.

"Emma, I need to know. It's okay." Adam said as he moved to stand closer to Emma.

"It's a psionic. And it's not after us. It's after Elementals." She looked up, and Adam could see horror reflected in her eyes.

"He's collecting them." Shalimar turned away. She didn't want to hear this.

"And killing them."


	4. Elementals

Author's Note: Well, I surprised myself in that last chapter. That's not at all where I had planned on going! But this fanfic is really writing itself, and I like how it's going, so who am I to argue with my fingers, which type stories without my say-so? I hope you liked last chapter (longer!!). I apologize in advance for the extreme shortness of this chapter, and how long it took me to get it up, but I had to fit these tiny scenes in somewhere. The action comes in next chapter. 

Read and Review! Review lots and lots! And then review more! And then... review after that!

^^^^^^^^

"Don't tell Brennan." Adam said. Emma didn't have to be told twice. She saw into people's minds every day, she didn't have to be reminded of what this knowledge could do to Brennan. He could go revenge-crazy, or he'd get freaked out and run for the hills, though with Brennan, the latter was not likely. Or nothing would happen, but they couldn't take the chance that something might.

Adam looked over at Shalimar. "Shal, did you hear? Don't tell him. It's important."

Shalimar whirled around to face Adam. "Don't you think he has a right to know? If some feral serial-killer was out there, I would want to know!"

"And I would want to tell you, but I don't want Brennan running off trying to save a bunch of elementals, and then getting killed!" Adam shot back. "And that would be worse than him not knowing at all!"

"He'll find out eventually, you know." Shalimar wouldn't give up the fight.

"Not from us, he won't." Adam insisted.

"Too late." Everyone in the lab froze at the sound of Brennan's voice. "Now you might as well tell me what Shalimar meant about me running off to save a bunch of elementals, because otherwise I _will_ find out."

All three of them opened their mouths at once, but Brennan held up a hand. "Just Emma. You're the one who should know what's going on, being the psionic. Spill it."

"This person--new mutant--who's attacking you, well, they're a psionic, and it doesn't want you because you're a member of Mutant X." Emma cut right to the chase.

"They want me 'cause I'm an Elemental." Brennan finished for her. "Great. Not only a powerful psionic, but a prejudiced, powerful psionic. Great."

Shalimar turned around when she heard the undertones in Brennan's voice. He was afraid. She had never, _never_, heard him sound afraid before. Cocky, yes, scared, never. It made her voice catch in her throat.

Brennan glanced at Shalimar as she made a move to talk, but didn't say anything. He noted her red-lined eyes. Slowly he glanced around, at Emma and Adam, and again at Shalimar.

Brennan dropped his gaze to the floor in front of him. "Please, let's just get this bastard stop. I'm sick of getting hurt, Emma saving me, Shalimar crying, and Adam pacing around with that serious look on his face. No offense." 

Shalimar glared at him. "I would think that you'd be glad I cared." 

"I am, Shal, I am. Now, could I just do what I've been trying to do all day, and go to bed?" The pleading in Brennan's voice cut Shalimar to her soul.

"Yes. Your scans all show up normal." Adam confirmed. "Shal, you can take first watch, to make sure nothing happens to him." _Or to make sure he doesn't try and do anything._ Adam added the unspoken command. Shalimar nodded.

^^^^^^^^

His eyes were closed, and his breathing had finally evened out-- he was asleep. Shalimar felt her muscles relax, and she breathed a little evener herself. Rest was the one thing that could, maybe, make Brennan see a little straighter on the whole 'elemental' issue.

Shalimar shook her head. It was bad enough that there was a huge divide between new mutants and the rest of humanity--thank god the brunt of humanity didn't know about new mutants--but did there have to be lines between mutants as well. Human nature, supposedly.

But the real question here was _who _was attacking elementals and, more importantly, _why_ was he, and _how _could they make him stop.

__

We will_ make him stop._ Shalimar told herself. _We will. We have to. _Unconsciously, she reached out to run a hand through Brennan's hair. It was short enough, and didn't need straightening, but she did anyway.

As if sensing her touch in his sleep, Brennan moved his head so that she was cradling it in her hands. Smiling softly, Shalimar sat down next to Brennan, on the side of the cot.

It was at that moment that she felt something. She was no psionic, but she was sure, so sure, that she felt a connection to Brennan. Deeper than a friendship, deeper than even the connection of family. She had no idea what it was, but as she sat there, she was strangely comforted by the warmth of their mysterious bond. Like a connection of--- _lovers_?

^^^^^^^^

Jesse found Adam in the lab, doing what looked like comparing a set of three scans.

"Adam? Shalimar said something weird was going on." Adam started a little when he realized Jesse was next to him, but quickly explained all that had happened while he had been gone. Jesse looked puzzled when Adam told him about the elemental serial killer psionic.

"If this.... person... is really killing elementals, why didn't he just grab Brennan or something. Most people like that, people like Henry, like to do it, well, personally. Get more pleasure from the pain. So what's this psionic getting from slapping Brennan around from a distance? And not even showing himself? Not that I'm an expert on the subject or anything." Jesse glanced at the scans. All three were Brennan's.

"No, you're right, Jesse. It doesn't really make any sense. Why attack him three times in one day, and never really cause any damage." Adam paced down the lab, his 'I'm thinking really really hard' look on his face.

"I don't know. But I hope we don't ever find out." Jesse replied.

^^^^^^^^

Brennan woke to the feeling of warmth, rest, and someone whom he loved, close by. Looking up, he saw Shalimar curled up at the head of the cot, sleeping soundly. Her heightened feral senses hadn't even sensed that he was awake. Yet.

Brennan tried to ignore the nagging voice in the back of the head that told him that he had just admitted he loved Shalimar. Instead he concentrated on getting to his feet and staying upright. He hoped his unsteady legs wouldn't betray him.

He glanced over at Shalimar. She was still fast asleep, thankfully. Brennan crept out of the room, shutting the door as quietly as he could. He could hear muffled voices coming from the direction of the lab, so he moved quickly and silently around it, towards the Double Helix.

^^^^^^^^

__

Somewhere else....

"Don't worry. Your sacrifice will save the world."

The screaming continued.

"Someday."

Abruptly, the screams cut off. A body, or what may have been a body in the past, fell to the floor.

"Another will come."


	5. Terror

Content Warning: Violence, torture. Mild language. Read with caution.

This chapter is dedicated to all those that I annoy with cliffhangers.

=========

Shalimar didn't notice herself falling asleep, but all of the sudden she realized she wasn't awake. And that she was very alone on Brennan's bed.

"Adam, he's gone!" She said without hesitation into her com-ring. She was surprised by the detachment in her voice, but by now, she was used to things going wrong when Brennan was involved. No falling apart. Not now.

"I shouldn't be to astonished." came Adam's wry response. "Get Emma. Have her get a hit. You check to see where the Double Helix is heading." Adam already knew. Brennan had gone, taken the Double Helix, to try and stop the killer that had attacked him. They all knew he would try. So why didn't they hear him, see him, or even detect him leave?

"I'm on it." Shalimar replied, wondering why she didn't feel worse about Brennan being gone.

=========

Adam turned around after Shalimar gave him the bad news. Jesse was already at a console, trying to activate the Double Helix's homing beacon. If they couldn't override it and bring Brennan back, they could at least find out where he was taking it.

Adam went to Jesse's side. "I can't find it. Somehow he must have disabled the device."

Adam was shocked at that piece of news. "How could he know how to do that? I hadn't told either Emma or Brennan."

Jesse looked up at Adam, confusion written across his features. "Why not?" He asked.

"I wanted to safeguard against he or Emma trying to leave. They had only just joined, and I didn't know their loyalty yet. I hadn't gotten around to telling them yet. It just wasn't that important."

Just then Emma and Shalimar came walking into the lab. Neither seemed in that much of a hurry. Which was odd. _Wasn't it? _Adam thought.

"I can't get a hit. It's as if Brennan disappeared off my radar or something." Emma said when they reached Jesse and Adam.

"And we can't find the Double Helix either." Jesse said, turning around.

"Somehow I didn't realize that he'd left. I fell asleep, but even so. Being a feral, I don't sleep that hard, and my heightened sense should have heard him." Shalimar put in.

"The Double Helix should have alerted us that it was leaving. There isn't a way to turn that alert off. And somehow Brennan knew how to hotwire it so we couldn't track him." Adam folded his arms and looked at the floor. Something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

The four of them stood there in silence for a few minutes, staring at the walls, their feet, the floor, anything but each other. Emma finally broke the ice.

"None of us really cares, do we?" The psionic said, looking up to stare each of them in the eye.

"What do you mean?" Shalimar said.

"None of us really care. Brennan managed to fool all of us, escape unnoticed, and leave so that he couldn't be traced. And none of us really seem to care. We are all acting like the situation isn't as urgent as it really is." During Emma's speech, Adam's brain finally snapped into place.

"That's right! Emma's right! Brennan left undetected, and I can't seem to make myself care too much. I know I should. I know I should be horribly worried and searching harder than I am, but I just can't make myself do it." Adam exclaimed, and he saw knowing looks on the rest of the teams' faces.

"I feel the same way. When I saw he was gone, I should have been frantic, but I wasn't." Shalimar still didn't meet anyone's eyes, and Adam could tell she was ashamed.

"Let me try to look in your minds. I'm going to check if something is really wrong with all of us." Emma said. Shalimar nodded that Emma should look into her first, and Emma focused into Shalimar's mind at once.

Long seconds ticked by, and suddenly Shalimar looked away, and met Adam's gaze. The intensity that Adam saw there was almost frightening. "Oh, god, Brennan!" She sighed, and sank down to the floor, her head buried in her arms. Emma turned to Adam a few moments later.

"There was a mental block in her mind, and also the residue of a sleep imprint. Let me take down yours and Jesse's and then we can talk." Emma said, and made short order of Jesse and Adam. In a few seconds, they had all sat down, as if overcome by the sudden onset of fear and worry that had been starkly absent before.

After regaining his composure, Adam turned to Emma, who was sitting on a bed on the side of the lab. "Emma, what were you saying about a residual sleep imprint in Shal's mind?"

"It was as if a psionic had been in there and told her to sleep. Sometimes I can sense that, if the psionic was powerful enough, or it happened recently."

"So this could be the same psionic that attacked Brennan and is killing the elementals?"

"Yes!" Emma said, her head snapping up. "If this psionic made Shalimar sleep, and the rest of us not care about Brennan for a short while-"

"Then told Brennan how to escape, and used my knowledge to tell him how to hotwire the Double Helix!" Adam finished for her. And then saw a grave dawning on Emma's face.

"Then Brennan's is being drawn right into the killer's arms, and we can't stop it." The silence following that revelation could not be broken.

=========

He had only one goal. It was simple, really. Kill the bastard that was killing his brothers and sisters in power. He had to go there. He wasn't sure how he knew where to go, but he did, and that was where he was heading.

=========

Geris looked up. Everything was very silent, but he could sense that something was near. He couldn't see it or hear it, but it was there.

__

Very disturbing, he thought. It had been awhile since he could not pinpoint an attacker's position before they attacked. Ever since his new mutant psionic abilities had manifested and grown, he could feel any person from twenty yards. If he wanted to.

This person couldn't stay hidden forever. _And even if I don't know where they are, nothing is a match for my abilities. _Geris was always cocky. No one had beaten him yet. Of course, he hadn't gone up against Mutant X before. One of his last….guests… had told him that Mutant X would be his downfall. Those were, of course, his last words.

Geris propped his feet up on the table in front of him, and tilted back in his chair. _Soon, soon, soon,_ he reassured himself. That----thing. That elemental, of Mutant X, would not be able to resist his call. No one could.

Suddenly a presence became apparent to Geris mind cum psionic radar. Another thing had found its way to him, just like he had planned. Ah, the boredom after the death of his last visitor would finally be over.

Swaggering over to his window, Geris glanced down to the sidewalk below his apartment complex. A man stood right in front of the building, staring up at the many floors. The man was tall, with darker hair and hard-set features. And he looked extremely determined.

__

Oh good, the ones with strong wills are always more enjoyable---- to break…Geris thought to himself with a smile, and sent out another subliminal call to the man--the thing-- below him. 

_Come to the fourth floor. I'll buzz you in. You'll find me here. _ He called.

The elemental stood there, staring up for a few more seconds, and Geris almost whooped when the man started towards the glass double doors that were the entrance to the complex. _Yes. _He called. _You'll find me right here._

=========

"Adam!" Jesse called, jumping up as he noticed the numbers on his computer screen. "I've got a trace on the Double Helix!"

"Jesse." Adam replied as he bounded up the stares to look at the screen over Jesse's shoulder. "When did you see this?"

"Just now, why?" Jesse replied, puzzled. "Shouldn't we go after him?"

"No, Brennan's not in the Double Helix anymore." Adam said, bowing his head.

"How do you-"

"Because the Double Helix is on it's way back, on autopilot. Brennan sent it back. The homing beacon automatically resets when the autopilot is engaged." Adam said, frustration clear in his speech.

"Wait." Jesse said, half-turning so he could look Adam in the face. "If the homing beacon reset when Brennan engaged the autopilot to send the Helix back, then the homing beacon should have sent back Brennan's last location. Where he stopped. Right?"

"Yes." Adam said, straightening up. "Yes, it would! Jesse, as soon as the Helix gets back, search the logs and find the location that the beacon first started transmitting from. Then we can find out the residents of that area, and which ones-"

"Are new mutants." Jesse finished, a renewed hope warming his chest. "I'll go let Emma and Shal know!" With that he hopped out of the computer seat and almost phased through the stairs to tell them the news.

=========

Brennan found himself, all at once, walking down a hallway. _A hallway? How the-_ He stopped and looked around. He had no idea where he was, and even less of an idea of how he got there. Staring up and down the hallway, Brennan saw smooth carpeting and clean white walls. It was all brightly lit, and gave the impression of middle class, well-off residents. And there was no reason at all that Brennan could think of that he should be here. From his last coherent thought, he should be in his room back at Sanctuary still.

__

Com ring. He remembered, and lifted his hand to call Adam and ask for a pickup. A millisecond before he activated it, a door opened down the hallway to his left. Quickly he dropped his hand, reminding himself that he already looked suspicious standing without a purpose in a apartment building that wasn't his. He didn't have to make matters worse by appearing to talk to no one.

A small, middle-aged man stuck his head out of the doorway, and looked up and down the hallway. He appeared to be in his early thirties, and though his clothes looked impeccable, his hair was disheveled. His eyes swept over to Brennan, and Brennan found that he couldn't break the gaze. The longer the man stared at Brennan, the colder Brennan felt, inside and out. The stare seemed to seep under his skin and see through him, past him, and yet still right at him. Brennan had the sudden urge to run, or scream, or something, but he could do nothing.

_Stubborn thing._ Brennan heard a whisper. It was exactly like Emma's whisper, when she was inside his mind, but unlike Emma, this voice paralyzed him further. And the words. 'Stubborn thing'. Him. That man, for he had no doubt that is was that man speaking to him, had called him a 'thing.'

This realization seemed to break the hold that the man had on Brennan. Fear outweighed whatever was keeping his feet rooted to the spot. Brennan stumbled backwards.

"It's you. The elementa-" Brennan breathed, his voice released with his body.

The man cut him off, speaking in an almost jovial voice. "Actually, it's Geris. Not an, uhm, elemental killer, I believe you were about to say. I prefer to think of it as saving the world. But why don't you come here, and we can talk about it?"

Brennan once again found himself moving, unwilling prey to Geris silent appeal to his subconscious. He tried to fight, but he found that he couldn't find anything to fight. His body was simply walking towards 'Geris'.

As soon as he reached the door, Geris stepped back and pulled the door wide so that Brennan could enter. 

Brennan's fear was so overwhelming that every muscle in his body was trembling. It was even more scary to him that he was so scared. He hadn't been this frightened since he was, at most, eight years old. From then on he stifled all of his emotions, always playing things down as less important than they really were, often coming off as arrogant or uncaring. But other than his powers, which before didn't always work consistently, that had been his only defense. Now it was simply habit.

Geris clicked the door shut behind him and locked it. He then crossed the room and took a seat in a folding chair, crossing his legs and studying Brennan intently. Brennan took a step backwards towards the door as he surveyed the room. It was very bare. Hardwood floors and the same blank white walls that were in the hallways. The room had no furniture in it with the exception of folding table and chair pushed up against the far wall, under two small windows with plain white shades over them. The shades were closed, Geris sat in the chair, and there were…..things on the table that Brennan simply refused to think about. He still had his com ring, and Geris wouldn't stand a chance against Mutant X in a fury. He hoped.

"So you are a member of the infamous Mutant X? Can I see the ring that you're thinking about?" Geris broke the silence, stood up and walked over to Brennan, and once again Brennan found himself doing exactly as he was asked. Lifting his hand, removing the silver band that he never, ever took off, and handing it over to this madman.

"Hmm, quite an interesting piece of technology. I think I'll keep it." Geris said lightly, and placed it on the table. Brennan tried to protest and found he couldn't.

Geris looked up at him. "Don't worry, I'll let you protest all you when soon enough. But first, let's take a little look inside.."

The psionic raised his hand and pressed a finger against Brennan's temple. Suddenly Brennan found himself no longer staring at the sadistic bastard in front of him, but seeing his life flash through his mind in fast forward as Geris did a quick run through of his memories. It was not unlike being cut open and laid out on a table for everyone to look at and size up.

All at once Geris dropped his hand. Brennan blinked rapidly, trying to get a bearing on himself again. It had all happened too fast. Geris himself turned and went back to his chair to sit down.

"Well, you've had a pretty exciting life. Not as exciting as mine, of course, but yours had its moments." Geris said, as if he was trying to engaged Brennan in a brotherly conversation about past memories. 

Brennan tried out his voice. "Oh, yeah, my life was a ball. Now, if you don't mind, I've got place to go and things to-"

"SHUT UP!" Geris screamed, and surged to his feet. Brennan almost fell over, and the fear he had felt before came rushing back. Geris was trying to psyche Brennan out, and he was doing a damn good job. 

"You are a little better than an animal, and everything you have you do NOT deserve. _You_ are cursed, and _I_ will cleanse the world of filth like you!" Geris screamed.

"Not too loud, Geris, old buddy, what about the neighbors?" Brennan found it so funny that Geris had gone from acting like an old friend to a sadistic bastard in a matter of seconds that he couldn't help but make a joke.

Geris strode up to Brennan, stopping an inch from him and breathing right into his face. "The neighbors won't hear one word out of my mouth unless I let them. And they won't here anything else." He smiled crazily. "Like screams?"

Brennan heard the warning to late. Geris grabbed Brennan's head in a vise-like grip between his hands.

_Both of them stood facing each other, separated by a few feet, in the muted gray dreamscape of the mind. Brennan began trembling again at the glint in Geris' eyes. It was menacing, it was crazed, and it certainly wasn't human._

Before Brennan could move, Geris sprung at him. In his fist, a serrated knife appeared. Grapping Brennan's should, Geris grabbed Brennan's shoulder in his other hand, and drove the knife in to his gut three times in succession. Hard, relentless, without mercy.

Brennan opened his eyes and let out a gurgling scream, echoing the screams that his nerve endings were sending his brain, thinking that he had been stabbed. His screams were abruptly cut off, however, when Geris opened his eyes and landed a firm punch into Brennan's solar plexus. Suddenly Brennan couldn't inhale. He backed into a corner, clutching his sides, frantically trying to breathe and scream. He couldn't see, he couldn't think, his brain was overwhelmed with the pain of the pseudo-stab wounds and the pain of not being able to breath….

Geris walked over to the table and grabbed a pair off handcuffs. He turned Brennan, who had shoved himself into a corner and was groaning in his attempts to breathe. With relative ease Geris hauled him to his feet and handcuffed his hands behind him and let him slide back down into the corner.

Slowly Brennan managed to take in a shallow breath. He could feel tears streaking his cheeks, and his hands clenched his stomach where there should have been three deep wounds. His eyes were opened, but he was catatonic with the pain that he could no longer voice.

Geris crouched so he could look into Brennan's glazed eyes. Placing a hand on his shoulder, he said, again in the brotherly voice. 

"Don't worry. Your sacrifice will save the world."

=========

Back at Sanctuary, Emma woke with a scream.


	6. At the Edge

Content Warnings: violence

A/n: Many apologies to everyone for this chapter. I've hardly had time to even think about writing in the past few weeks. Sorry, very sorry, here's your next chapter!

******

"For a brief moment, not more than a few seconds, I saw into Brennan's mind. He was bleeding so much, and he couldn't breathe. Oh, god, Adam, he could be dieing or dead, he needs us.." Emma was gripping Adam's forearms like she'd never let go.

"What happened?" Jesse breathed as he and Shalimar burst through the door to Emma's room, summoned like Adam by her scream.

"I was sleeping. Sometimes sleep acts like a deep mediation and I can get a hit. For a moment I saw Brennan sprawled out and bleeding. And then his voice, screaming at us to come help him." Emma repeated what she had told Adam, forced calmness etched across her face.

Shalimar sat down on the edge of Emma' s bed, stretching an arm out to grasp her shoulder reassuringly. "It's alright Emma. This was just a mind image, right? Maybe it was even a dream from all this stress of not knowing where Brennan went."

"No!" Emma said fiercely. "I can tell the difference between a dream and psionic visions. That other psionic has Brennan, and Brennan needs our help!" Emma was no longer hysterical, but angry. Couldn't they see that _now_ they needed to act?

"I'm going to go see if the Helix is here yet." Jesse said as he quickly backed out of the room.

"Typical guy. Run when things get rough." Shalimar quipped, and managed to get a shallow smile from Emma and preoccupied one from Adam.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that the Double Helix should be back by now, so if you two will excuse me, I'm going to go help Jesse get a fix on Brennan's last known location." Adam smiled reassuringly at both of them, meeting and holding each of their gazes. "We will rescue Brennan, Emma, if that's what he needs." Emma nodded.

Shalimar's eyes rested on the door for a little while after Adam left. Emma always acted so emotional. It was all Shalimar could do to keep her 'bad girl who is affected by nothing' façade in place. Brennan was gone, and from what Emma said, he could be an inch from death. He was all alone, and here was the rest of his valiant team, scurrying around just to find out where he was. Sometimes it felt like someone had ripped out her heart just to stick needles in it to see how she'd react.

Shalimar sat there in silent contemplation of her hidden feelings. The blond-haired feral had, however, forgotten, that she was sitting right next to a psionic, broadcasting private feelings loud and clear.

"Shal?" Emma murmured. "Shalimar?"

Shalimar jumped a little bit and glanced over at Emma. "What's up, Em?"

"I never thought.." Emma began, but stuttered. "I mean, I thought.. You know, I thought you two were just…. Shal, you love him?"

"Dammit, were you reading me? Emma, why the hell-" Shalimar almost shouted, so startled by Emma's sudden revelation that she jumped off the bed.

"Of course I wasn't reading you! I wouldn't do that! You were broadcasting your thoughts as though you were _telling me yourself_!" Emma shouted right back.

"Sorry! I just-" Shalimar sighed. She hadn't really been angry, just startled. "I just feel lost. You're the one whose always saving him, you're the one who can see him. I can only fight flesh and blood, and I want to help Brennan."

"Believe me." Emma said, avoiding looking at Shalimar. "You don't want to see him. Not right now."

"Why are we just sitting here? We have to get out there! He could be dead or dying. All alone and I'll never see him again!" Shalimar burst out standing up and pacing to one wall. She stood stock still in front of it, and slowly she raised her hands and ran them through her hair.

"I'll be okay." She murmured, her voice back to its old confidence. "I just had to vent."

"Shal." Emma said, not willing to let everything go. "Shal, I want to know about you and Brennan. Do you really think you're in love with him?"

Shalimar leaned forward and pressed her hands and forehead against the wall. "You know what, Emma? I think I do. I think I do."

"Then-" Emma began. She restarted. "-Then I won't tell anyone unless you want me to."

******

Part of Brennan's mind was still trying to remain conscious and focused, but unfortunately it was the losing part. His body and mind couldn't decided what was actually happening. His brain thought he was bleeding to death, but he wasn't and his brain couldn't come up with a way to remedy that. His brain thought he should be unconscious with pain, but his nerves didn't, and nothing could change that. Brennan wasn't entirely sure how all that psionic-mind-game stuff worked, but the only really rational thought he could form was that this couldn't be happening. He was raised to be a street fighter, and Adam had drilled him constantly in martial arts. How could he have walked right into his tormentors arms like a long lost child? This couldn't be happening.

His mind was barely registering external pain, outside of it's own distress. The part of him that was seeking to regain some semblance of thought got driven back as soon as it realized that Geris wasn't only inflicting damage with his mind anymore. Knifes, fire, scissors, skewers, Brennan stopped registering anything after a while. He stopped thinking… maybe he even stopped breathing….

But through everything, surprisingly, a calculating part of himself stayed aloof from the fiery pain. That part guarded a secret cache of information that Brennan inadvertently became privy to when Geris entered his mind for the first time in the apartment complex.

So part of Brennan remained alive, deeply buried, separated from mind, body, and spirit. Hoping only to escape, and to never ever feel pain again.

******

Tracking residents….

Retrieving files…..

Searching for a match….

Please wait….

All the words on the computer screen were starting to blend together. Shalimar rubbed her eyes for the millionth time and squinted back at the screen. It didn't even look like English anymore. For advanced technology, it took an awfully long time to search, apartment building by apartment building, in a three to four block area, for all psionics.

Her stomach was clenching in a tight but all to familiar manner. Her muscles were stiff and locked up, and even if Eckart himself had tried to attack her right now, she wouldn't have been able to move. Her very fingers were frozen with worry. _Concentrate on anything, anything except…_

How many searches had she done? One, three? Ten? She knew that Jesse, Emma, and Adam, were all doing the same thing, with about as much success as she. There was so much sifting for the database to do. Besides hacking into the listings of the residents, it had to sort through everyone, finding new mutants, and then sorting through those new mutants to find psionics. The proverbial needle in a haystack, that's for sure.

*_Search completed. 1 psionic found in the requested search area._*

__

ONE! Shalimar almost whooped for joy, and for pure, unmatched, luck. New mutants weren't exactly numerous, especially not in one small area, but this was luck!

"ADAM!" She yelled, and heard three sets of feet running from various computer consoles in Sanctuary.

"Anything?" Adam breathed, racing to look over her shoulder.

"One psionic. Accessing their file now." Shalimar replied, fingers racing over the keyboard as Jesse and Emma came running up.

"Caldmann, Geris. Psionic, rumored to be very powerful. Not a member of the Underground, but no reported instances of getting bothered by the GSA. Residence: Sangworth Avenue Apartment Plaza, Room 425."

"Jesse-" Adam turned.

"The Double Helix is prepped and waiting." Jesse responded immediately.

Nothing further had to be said. The Double Helix was out of the hanger before the computer had time to shut down Caldmann, Geris' file.

******

Geris was in his mind again. Brennan could barely feel him. But he knew that Geris was there. Doing… something. That hurt.

That was the funny thing about pain. After the first three blows, Brennan had gone catatonic. He felt the pain, he felt it burn, he had screamed at first. But now all he could do was register it. He couldn't respond, couldn't cry, couldn't breathe. Complete and utter desensitization.

Suddenly, it was gone. The constant companion of pain that Brennan didn't even think about anymore stopped. He continued to hurt, oh, did he hurt, but the infliction of pain just… stopped. It was enough to shock him out of his stupor, and enough for him to realize all of the pain. All of it, all at once.

Brennan felt tears renew their flow down his cheeks, mixing with blood on the way. It almost felt like his eyes were bleeding…. How odd…

When he looked up, he saw Geris standing over him with a knife, and he felt a stillness. _Like the stillness right before dawn…_And he knew in his heart he was going to die.

******

The Double Helix wouldn't fly fast enough. Shalimar's stomach twisted itself so tightly she could swear it was knotting up her throat as well. As soon as the Helix touched down she was sprinting towards the building faster than the rest of the team could blink. But they caught up and were right behind her.

Shalimar didn't know how they did it, but while she pressed up against the double glass doors that blocked her path to Brennan. Maybe Adam had some sort of technology up his sleeve, but whatever it was, the doors swung open and Shalimar bolted to the stairs. Elevators-- too slow.

__

425. 425. 425. Shalimar chanted in her mind. Her body was responding fully now, her desperate race to get to her goal bringing her feral abilities completely to the fore. She was racing down the fourth floor hallway, a fury in her eyes that was nothing short of an uncontrolled rage.

She was not paralyzed by shock when she threw open the door and saw Brennan lying there. She did not hesitate when she saw a man in bloodstained clothes standing over Brennan, a knife slicing towards Brennan's throat. The man looked up and for a second his eyes met Shalimar's.

He lunged. Shalimar lunged.

The knife went flying.


	7. Close to Normal

A/n: I have a few excuses for why this took me so long, but they aren't as interesting as a new chapter would be, so I won't bore you. Apologies to everyone for taking so long. I'm veryveryvery sorry. I know this chapter is short, but I felt bad for the huge delay so I got it up and I will get another chapter up, hopefully longer, very soon.

******

Emma reached the door moments after Shalimar smashed headfirst into Geris. Emma could sense Geris about to strike out with his mind and hastily she threw up a shield around him.

The petite psionic wasn't ready for the intense barrage of attacks that came down on her shield, but her surprise fueled her to hold her barriers strong. As long as she kept one step ahead of Geris, Shalimar would be able to pound the man into oblivion. She couldn't make herself care after all that had happened.

On a fluke Emma glanced away from Shalimar and her eyes fell on Brennan. _Brennan. Oh, no- _Emma couldn't think of anything beyond denial. It could NOT be her friend laying there in the corner. Her friend, Brennan, who would be the first to remind you that he used to be a bad criminal, and the first to ask you if you were alright. Always meditating to keep his powers in check, sitting next to the pond in Sanctuary, reading poetry. Always running off to help new mutants in distress. Fighting along side all of them to keep the GSA off their backs and out of their Underground. No one would _ever _do this to that Brennan.

After a moment of pure rejection of the sight in front of her, Emma felt her emotions shift. Maybe she got caught up in Shalimar's battle-furious emotions, maybe she just snapped at seeing all that blood. Just as Jesse and Adam raced up behind her, she gather all her power in to herself and struck out at Geris' mind with all she had. Caught off guard, Geris' eyes rolled up into his head as he was hit by the most powerful psionic rage Emma had in her.

"Emma!" Jesse gasped as she was flung a few steps back, falling into him.

"Backlash. I'll be fine-" Emma said, clutching her head. She would have a huge headache.

"Did you--?" Adam turned to her as Geris dropped to the floor. Shalimar stood, out of breath, in front of him.

"No. He's too powerful. All I could do was knock him unconscious." Emma didn't mention that she wouldn't have cared in the least if he had ended up brain dead. Brennan was still bleeding out all over the floor…

"Jess, get over here _now_! We've gotta get him out of here!" Adam was already kneeling next to Brennan, unlocking the handcuffs with a key he had found on the table.

Jesse rushed over. "Alright, Shal and Emma, you guys run ahead and start up the Helix. Go!"

Adam looked up at them before they could leave. "Let's get him back to Sanctuary." His voice was emotionless.

They turned and ran, hearts pounding together in fear.

******

Adam was already prepping for surgery when they laid Brennan down in the lab chair. His preliminary scan on the Double Helix had revealed extensive internal bleeding. It, not his external wounds, would kill him if not taken care of.

"Jesse, Shalimar, I know you want to help Brennan, but-" Adam turned around to face them, his face grim and set. "Well, Emma is better trained at assisting in surgery than you two, and I don't think distractions, well, distractions can't be-" He was unsure of what to say. This team, this tight-nit family was in shock, and he didn't want Jesse or Shalimar to leave, but he need to work unhindered.

"We know, Adam. It's okay." Shalimar didn't look up from Brennan's face, which she cradled in one hand.

"We understand. You can't be distracted, and we would be in the way." Jesse had his hand on Brennan's shoulder. Both of them seemed to be willing Brennan to live, to fight for just a moment more. "Let's go, Shal."

Jesse moved towards the door, gently guiding Shalimar along with him. She looked back at Brennan and then turned around to look at Adam. He could read the look in her eyes. _Save him, please._ He wasn't about to let her down.

******

Jesse tightened his grip on Shalimar's arm as the exited the lab.

"Shal, I know you want to bolt to your room and hide away, but that's not going to help." He grabbed her shoulders and made her face him. "You're worried, okay? We all are, so we can deal with it together."

"But I-" Shalimar protested weakly.

"I know, you think you might be in love with him. I'm not as thick as you and Brennan seem to think I am." He grinned at her pole-axed face. "You guys kept hiding behind that whole 'brother and sister' thing, but it was pretty obvious."

"Jesse, you-" Shalimar looked away, her face flushed. Would he be mad, or jealous?

"Shal, Shal, I love you like a sister. A blood sister." He caught her gaze and smiled. "If you and Brennan think you can make it, than go for it. He'll be okay. Will you?"

"Yea, I guess." She smiled hesitantly back at him. He was like a brother to her, and she should have realized that he would have known. And understood.

"Good." He let go of her shoulders and headed off towards the dojo. "You up for some training?"

Shalimar watched his back, and for a moment she felt like everything was back to normal. After the moment passed, she followed Jesse, thinking determinedly that everything _would _return to normal.

******

Once they got into the rhythm of training, both Jesse and Shalimar got lost in the rounds of endless spars and blocks. It took them a few minutes to realize that Emma was standing on the stairs to the dojo, politely waiting for them to notice her.

"Em." The blond feral panted, blocking Jesse's final blow. "What's up?" Jesse turned around, equally out of breath.

"How'd it go?" He asked, not allowing himself to think of worst case scenarios.

Emma didn't fool around with them. She smiled at once so they would know everything was better. "He did well in surgery. The only complication is that he won't wake up."

"Is he in a coma?" Shalimar asked hesitantly, using a towel to wipe of the sweat of her workout.

"No, that's what's weird. He's not in a coma, and all of his vital stats say that he _should_ be awake, but he's not. We repaired all of the major physical damage."

"What's Adam saying about all this?" Jesse asked.

"He sent me to get you. He's going to try giving Brennan a stimulant, and he wants us all there if he wakes up confused." Emma turned and went back to the lab, Jesse and Shalimar following closely behind without a word.

******

"Emma, thank you. Jesse, Shalimar, come over here." Adam said from a computer console in the lab when they walked in. "Stand next to him and in front of him, but don't crowd him so he'd be nervous. Just let him know that you're there."

Silently they did as they were told. Brennan looked a million times better than he had earlier. The blood had been cleaned from his body, and most of the huge cuts and bruises were gone. There wasn't even scar tissue.

Adam came over with the stimulant in his hands. "Remember, he might be very agitated if he wakes up. Don't get excited or talk loud. And no movements that might frighten him." 

Jesse, Emma, and Shalimar all looked at each other. Each of their eyes said the same thing. _He's going to be okay. Or else._

Adam held the vial to Brennan's arm and administered the drug. For seconds, minutes, maybe even hours, it seemed like, they stood there, completely still, urging the still form of their teammate just to twitch, to give some sign that he was alive.

Nothing could match the sudden explosion of warmth that Shalimar felt when she saw Brennan's eyelids flutter, and then open. Forgetting everything, she grabbed his hand. His grip was firm in hers.

Before anyone could even begin to think of what to say, Brennan turned his glazed eyes towards them all and hoarsely cried, "Help me. Please, it hurts. Help me!"


	8. Strength

A/n: When I set out to write this part, I had literally no idea that it would be the last chapter, but suddenly it was. I apologize to all of you who waited for this, and I dedicate this chapter to all those who reviewed my story in the long time it took to write this. Please R/R to tell me what you thought of this whole story!

Now, the last chapter:

******

"What's wrong?" Adam said urgently, hiding his fear by moving to stand at Brennan's head.

"Still……." Brennan choked out. He was gasping for breath and clutching his stomach, but no one could tell what was wrong. Physically, he wasn't dying.

"Still? Still what, Brennan? Does it still hurt?" Emma reached out to put a hand on his shoulder but resisted. He might still be in pain, in which case…

"No. No. Ah…" Brennan tried harder to communicate. "Still--- bleeding. Still--dying."

"Brennan, you are NOT dying! You're at Sanctuary, you're safe, and Adam patched you up just fine!" Emma said forcefully. Maybe this was just mind-over-matter. He must have been hurting so much that he thought he still was.

"No. In---" Brennan flailed out wildly with his hand and caught Emma off guard. Seizing her hand in a death grip, he pressed it against his left temple. "In……my… _head_."

"Oh, no…" Emma gasp, putting her other hand on Brennan's head and diving into his mind without a second thought……………

_He was sprawled full length on the cold ground of the dreamscape. His eyes were red-rimmed and unseeing, staring past Emma at nothing. One blood covered hand lay limp on his stomach._

Emma reached over and gently removed his hand from his abdomen. No wonder he wouldn't wake up, with his mind in this condition. Slowly, she rolled up his blood soaked shirt.

Underneath was three ugly, deep stab wounds. They were raw, jagged, and bleeding furiously. But Emma was used to these wounds, wounds of the mind. She was a psionic. She could handle this.

In her hand appeared a healing device that Adam had created. She'd used it before to fix up Shalimar's gunshot wound. She set to work without thinking.

Time passed indefinitely in the dreamscape. What was two hours could be two days. What was four hours could be four seconds. Nothing was truly consistent. Emma worked on without feeling the passage of time, one way or another.

******

"Don't worry. It's just a trance." Adam said calmly.

"Are you sure? Absolutely sure? Are her eyes… supposed to do that?"

"Jesse, it's fine. Really." Shalimar shot an annoyed look at the overly-vocal molecular.

Emma abruptly dropped her hands from Brennan's head, and then Brennan bolted upright, sitting forward in the lab chair.

"Whoa, Brennan! Whoa, hey, relax." Shalimar said, in a soothing voice, her hands gently pushing Brennan back down. "You're at Sanctuary. This isn't a hallucination."

"Of course… it's not." Brennan said slowly, easing himself back down. "You don't have to convince me you're real, I know."

"Good. So how do are you feeling?" Adam asked. "Any other mind-wounds? Any overwhelming physical pain?"

"No, but I don't think sitting up that fast did anything for my aches." Brennan looked down at the floor. "Yeah, I'm fine."

An uncomfortable silence filled the lab. Everyone wanted to talk, but they really didn't know what was appropriate to say and what wasn't. They weren't the military, this wasn't a profession that one could exactly train for. None of them were 'trained' to cope with physical trauma anymore more than a regular human would be.

"Can I… go sleep in my room? I'm pretty tired, after, you know, today." Brennan looked at them nervously, not sure why they were so silent. Was there something wrong that they weren't telling him?

"Sure, sure. Of course. Do you need …." Adam started quickly and stopped, unsure of how Brennan would react when asked if he needed help.

"No. Adam, I'm fine. Just…." Brennan sighed. "Just tired."

He swung his legs off the side of the lab chair, gave his body a few minutes to get adjusted, and slipped down onto his feet. Jesse practically jumped three feet to get out of his way, but Brennan tried to ignore it. He concentrated on making his way out of the lab, walking in a straight line, without giving any sign of weakness. As soon as he turned the corner, out of their eyesight, he stopped for a moment, one hand on the wall, supporting him.

Silently he took an inventory. His head was aching a little, his abdomen and back kept twinging, one of his arms was stiff, his left leg didn't seem reliable, and both of his knees felt incredibly weak.

Gently, he probed his emotions. Scattered memories of the past couple of days seemed less like reality ever time he thought about them. _Torture_… He shook his head. Shock was a blessing, for right now. He would get some sleep, and deal with all his aches later.

******

"We dealt with that totally wrong." Shalimar said, turning to Adam after Brennan had left the lab, walking so deliberately that it looked like he might have fallen over just from the effort.

"I know, I know." Adam replied, rubbing his forehead with his hand. It had been long-creased with worry. "I'm not sure how to deal with any of this. Do we hunt down Geris? Do we force Brennan to talk about what happened? Do we do anything at all?"

Silence, thick and heavy, descended again, but this was a silence of deep thought, not uncomfortable searching for something to say.

"I know how." Shalimar said, in a voice that only slightly betrayed her fear and worry. "We let Brennan sort out what he can and can't deal with himself. We help him to start training again, we listen to him when he needs it, we leave him alone when he doesn't. We force him out of Sanctuary, keep him from hiding away when he needs company. We will be his family, just like we always have been."

"And Geris?" Jesse asked quietly.

"I think we can let the GSA take that one for us."

The rest of Mutant X nodded as one, and retreated for their own rooms, to sleep, to think, and to worry.

******

__

Gleaming eyes. Gleaming eyes coming towards me!

Knives. Oh, god, knives flashing towards me!

Insane. You are insane. Your eyes, hate, me, for, who, I, am, run, run, RUN!

Brennan awoke with a quickly stifled shout. Leaning over, Brennan concentrated on the feeling of his temple pressing against the wall. His breath came frantically, quickly, and he desperately tried to keep himself quiet.

__

His body wasn't responding to his command.

Brennan stifled a scream as he entered the flashback of a memory that he never ever wanted to live again.

__

It's not just that you're helpless. It's that I'm in control. I'm in your mind! I can do anything thing with you and you can't stop me.

Panicking far beyond rational thought, Brennan pushed himself backwards onto the corner of his bed and shoved himself down into the space where the walls met. Nowhere was far enough to run.

__

You'll find me here…

__

Geris! Oh my god, he's here. He'll find me, he'll control me and I'll be back in that hell again! Brennan's thoughts came in a knotted jumble, unable to understand, unable to comprehend, unable to see what was real and what was the nightmare.

The sound of his door crashing open shocked him suddenly and completely back to the real world.

******

Shalimar wasted no time in kicking down Brennan's door after his strangled scream had brought her running from her bed. Thankfully the sliding door shook and slid aside when she threw herself against it, or she would have broken the thing in half. It did her feral spirit good either way.

Her senses showed her right where Brennan was, curled up on his bed in the corner. Shalimar gathered her composure and walked over to the edge of his bed, trying to project a feeling of calm and unthreatening.

__

Remember, you're his family, he's hurt, and he needs help. Shalimar reminded herself. _And he will be okay._ She added as she saw his over-bright eyes shining through the darkness.

"Bren?" She inquired softly. "What's wrong?" She knew it was a stupid question, but it was honest and the sound of her voice seemed to comfort him immensely.

Slowly he relaxed his muscles and uncurled himself. As he drew himself out of the corner, Shalimar moved to sit lightly on the edge of the bed next to him. Her feral senses gave her a tiny clue into his not so obvious distress. His face was a stony mask, but his hands were trembling minutely and his breath was slow and shuddering. 

Other doors had been slamming throughout Sanctuary. Jesse and Adam were shortly joined by Emma standing in the doorway, silently looking on. For sometime they each remained like that, a silent and somber ensemble, the three in the doorway and Shalimar sitting on the bed, next to a shivering Brennan.

"Brennan." Shalimar said softly again, carefully laying a hand on his arm. It was shaking slightly but he didn't flinch. A good sign.

"It was a dream." His voice was rough and full of raw emotion. "And a flashback."

"Are you okay now?" Adam asked from the doorway, his face returning to its all too familiar pose of fatigue and worry.

"Uh, no." Brennan said, looking up from the floor at all of them crowded in the doorway. "My leg and my back are one mass of pain, and I was just tortured by some insane freak. Oh, and I had a flashback. While I was awake. No, I am not 'okay'. Why should I be?"

The harsh sarcasm in his voice was not unexpected but it hurt, and Adam flinched under the assault. "You have every right to be 'not okay' emotionally, Brennan, but I _can _make the pain in your back and leg go away, so let's get to the lab." Adam kept his voice soft and un-condemning. Brennan looked down at the floor again, suitably ashamed of his outburst.

"Hey, Brennan, it's okay. You will get better. Now let's go." Shalimar said, sensing his misery. "I'll give ya a hand this time, but you better not take advantage of my willingness to help, okay?" She lifted his arm over her shoulders and let out a small laugh, and was abundantly rewarded by a genuine smile from him.

"Alright, I promise. But you'd better not leave me alone with Adam. He'll do so many scans I'll never get back to sleep." Brennan joked back, and everyone smiled.

"On my honor." Shal replied, and aimed a light punch at Adam, who went to support Brennan's other side.

"Okay, then, off we go." Jesse said, he and Emma leading the way.

******

"There are still some torn muscles in your back, I'm going to set the scan to repair them. You're going to have to lie still for at least ten minutes, okay?" Adam turned to look at Brennan. He didn't want the normally scan-wary elemental to move when the process wasn't finished and tear the muscles again.

"I hear ya. No moving." Brennan repeated, rolling over to lay on his stomach in the lab chair, and folding his hands under his head. Adam hadn't said he couldn't fall asleep.

He was a tiny bit afraid of having another dream, but he was much more tired than he was afraid. Or, at least, he hoped he was… his fears grew bigger as he drifted closer to unconsciousness, but soon it overtook him and he was all alone with the pain.

However, this time there was more than pain. There was a wall. A wall he had built, to hide something away, for safe keeping. He desperately needed to bring the wall down, but he couldn't, no matter how hard he tried. The pain kept dragging him back, and dragging him down, much farther down. And the wall remained, only giving an inch for each lifetime he fought.

******

Adam glanced down at Brennan. He was already asleep, and the scan had only been going for a couple of minutes. _Either he's really tired, or he's hiding._ Adam cringed.

"Shal, do you think you could watch him? He's not the only one who really could use the sleep." Adam asked, turning to the silent woman sitting on a lab table looking at Brennan.

"Of course. You probably need the rest more than all of us put together, including Brennan. I'll watch him, you go." Shalimar waved him off absently.

Adam turned and walked toward the door of the lab. Abruptly he stopped and turned back to her. "How do you think he's doing?" He inquired softly, catching her gaze as it lifted to him.

"Truthfully, I'm a little surprised. I don't know what I expected, but he seems to be doing pretty well. He may have his demons, but he'll deal with them. We'll deal with them." Shalimar answered honestly.

"Good. I had noticed too, but I wanted to make sure I was seeing what's there, not what I wanted to see." Adam responded. "I think it has a lot to do with who he is. He sees the world for what it is. I hope."

Shalimar nodded and said no more. Adam took that as her unspoken reminder that he should go get some rest . He turned back around and left the lab.

******

Shalimar sat there, mind wandering, for almost a half an hour watching Brennan sleep. The scan was long done with fixing Brennan's back but she hadn't woken him up. He seemed to be peaceful, his face was twitching but he was otherwise calm. She didn't have the heart to disturb him.

"Whoa!" Shalimar jumped backwards as Brennan came abruptly awake without warning. "Brennan!"

Brennan turned to her, his eyes registering his surroundings. When his gaze met hers, she saw that his eyes were flooding with an emotion that she couldn't describe. It was almost like… he was realizing something. What it was Shalimar couldn't even fathom.

"You okay?" She asked for what seemed to be the umpteenth time.

"Yeah. I've been waking up like that a lot. Kind of a habit, I guess." He said, his voice light but a little forced.

"The scan's over, is there anything you want to do, besides sleep?" She figured that he didn't want to sit in the lab all day, and he had already covered the bases of sleeping, having nightmares, and scaring the hell out of her. There wasn't much more for him to do.

"Uh, surf the internet, actually. Funny the things you find yourself missing, huh." His voice carried a sincere laugh this time, one that brought a smile to her face as well. That was just like Brennan. He was hurt and the one thing he could thing about was the internet? How typically Brennan.

"Well, just as long as you promise to lay off the really heavy duty hacking. Don't want you to strain a finger or something." Shalimar replied jovially, helping him to stand up.

"I'll try to cut back." He said, smiling softly at her. Shalimar wished he hadn't. She was trying to support him and _he_ was making her knees weak. _Sometimes life is just backwards. _She thought with a grin. Glancing at the lingering smile on his face, warm feelings spilled over inside of her. Things felt… natural again. No walking on eggshells, no worry. For now.

******

As soon as Shalimar helped him get up the stairs and had gotten him settled at the computer, Brennan waved her off. He had a few personal things to see to on the computer.

He jumped around the internet for a few minutes, just delighting in the mindless yet enjoyable act of doing so. He was just a normal human, doing normal, human things.

Inevitably, his mind wandered to the inhuman. The unnatural, the abnormal. His fingers lead him from the internet to the controls for the holographic portion of the dojo.

Memories kept flowing back to him as soon as he had broken down that wall in his dreams. He remembered things about the past two days that he didn't care to remember. But that didn't matter. Nightmares were not corporeal, he could deal with them. As long as he had help, which he realized now. There was a time for pride, but this really wasn't it.

What he really cared about remembering was less personal. Or maybe more, he wasn't sure yet. He had somehow acquired… information… about Geris. Who he had been, and why he had become what he was.

His hands flitted over the keyboard, creating in stride with the knowledge that was coming back into his mind. Slowly his creation took shape and form.

All of the sudden it was done, and an ugly monster was staring him in the face. Overcome with fear at what he had done, he quickly shut down the program. Heart beating in his chest, he closed his eyes and stood up shakily. He would deal with this… later maybe, when he was alone.

******

Adam ran into Emma's room, where she and Shalimar were sitting, talking quietly. An alarm ringing from the hallway signaled alarms.

"Adam, what's up?" Shalimar jumped up to meet him.

"The computer system just decoded a GSA plan. In ten minutes, there's going to be a raid on a safehouse. Currently, seven new mutants are there waiting to go into the underground. Let's move!"

"I'll get Jesse." Emma said, jumping up and running out the door.

"I'll get the Helix ready!" Shalimar shouted, already running in the opposite direction.

Adam followed closely behind.

******

Brennan was slightly on edge, even though all he was doing was sitting on his bed trying to read. He found himself listening to his surroundings and reassuring himself that all was well more than he was reading.

__

What am I reading, anyway? Brennan tried to concentrate on the words. _It's…Elliot. I really wish I wasn't trying to read this._

It was _almost_ a welcome distraction when the sounds of shouts and running feet began to echo throughout Sanctuary.

__

Breathe. Breathe. They'll tell you what's going on if you need to know. Brennan counseled himself.

"Brennan!" Adam came crashing into Brennan's room. Luckily Brennan had carefully prepared himself for these circumstances and was braced against flinching at the sudden noise and movement.

"What's wrong?" Brennan inquired, carefully standing up.

"No, no, sit. Shal, Jesse, Emma and I have to go. There's going to be a raid… will you be okay here alone? I really don't think you should-- It's kind of soon, I don't want you to re-injure yourself or any-"

"Adam, I know. Go, I'll be fine here." Brennan interrupted, dropping back down onto his bed and gesturing him off.

"Alright. Be careful. Don't do anything stupid, don't-" Adam rambled as he back out the door.

"I'll be fine. I'm the one staying at Sanctuary, right? Go!" Brennan got up and shut the door so that Adam was pushed out of the room. There were a few moments of silence, and then Brennan heard Adam running back down the hallway.

He forced himself to wait until he heard the Helix leave the hangar until he opened his door and stepped out. A quick check around revealed that they had truly left.

Walking through an empty Sanctuary, Brennan found himself tiptoeing and keeping extremely quiet. It had to be the effect of being in such a big building alone. _What possessed Adam to build the ceilings so high?_ Brennan thought, staring darkly up at the vaulted ceiling and feeling slightly agoraphobic. 

Brennan looked back down at the console in front of him. The dojo controls. Somehow he had ended up here again. Of course, this had been his plan all along. As soon as he had a moment alone, he had vowed to… but he hadn't expected that moment to come so soon, within the hour.

It only took a few seconds to activate the holographic controls. Brennan paused to stretch out his tender back and massage his shaky leg. His hands were trembling again but he tried to ignore it. He made his way slowly to the dojo, walking up the steps but avoiding looking at the hologram waiting silently for him at the top.

Nothing could have prepared him for the moment when he looked into the holograms eyes. Stared the silent image of Geris in the face. This time he was not blinded by psionic control, he wasn't in a haze of pain. He was in complete control of himself -he hoped- and it was the final test. Did he have the strength of will to face up to his tormentor now… or would he live on to doubt himself forever.

Geris was a former GS agent. He used to be an elemental that could control wind. From what his mind had inadvertently shown Brennan, the GSA had experimented with him to see if the molecular structure of a new mutant could be changed enough to alter their powers altogether. And it worked, but they had changed so much, so deeply, that he had gone insane.

So they had brainwashed him and set him to work. Of course, a powerful psionic like Geris had become could overcome the brainwash with ease. And he had. Only this time he didn't go insane.

__

Well, not in the same way. Brennan thought bitterly, rubbing his suddenly cold arms. Holding Geris cold gaze was getting too hard.

Geris had gone insane, but he used his powers to control his own mind. He knew that he was more powerful as a psionic than he ever had been as an elemental. He hated Genomex for what they had done to him but he also hated himself for what he had done.

That hate had gone so far beyond logic and soon Geris could no longer think rationally. It was easy for him to escape the GSA and start killing those that reminded him of what he had once been--- weak.

__

Weak. Brennan thought, his heart frozen in his chest. He wanted to blink and look away from the hologram that he had created, but it was impossible. _He was right…I'm weak._

The hologram held his gaze for a few seconds longer, blinked, and then lunged at Brennan. He was programmed to be everything that Geris had been, mad, bent on killing, and a well-trained fighter.

Brennan blocked his blows at first. It was hard to make his limbs move correctly and quickly. The air was heavy, weighing him down. He went completely on the defensive.

The blows began to come harder and faster. Suddenly Brennan felt a terrible impact with one of his legs, his bad leg. All of his weight went crashed down onto that knees as the leg folded beneath him.

And then he made the mistake of looking up into Geris' eyes.

******

"All I'm good for now is a shower and three days' of sleep." Shalimar complained pleasantly as the Helix docked in hangar. "But kickin' the GSA's but makes it all worth it, I think."

"Don't forget those new mutants we saved. They were so grateful I thought I'd die if one of them said 'thank you' one more time." Emma added, smiling as she remembered how satisfying it was to help them.

"Things felt so normal. Mutant X saves the day and protects the world from the evil GSA." Jesse put in, glancing over at Adam.

"Yeah." Adam agreed with a nod. "I hope Brennan's okay. I don't hear anything do you."

"I do." Shalimar said suddenly, bringing her head up as her eyes flashed golden.

"What?" Emma said in a hushed voice, cocking her head and listening as hard as she could.

"There's a slight buzzing. I only here it if someone has left the refrigerator open or if the holographic simulator is in use." Shalimar said, her eyes returning to normal.

"Let's check it out, come on." Adam said, setting off at a run.

"If Brennan left the refrigerator open, he's gonna answer to me!" Jesse joked as he ran past Emma. Shalimar and Emma rolled their eyes at each other and followed.

******

Shalimar had never thought that she would see her nightmares alive and in front of her face, but there was Geris standing over Brennan's bloody, crumpled body.

"Oh my god, what the-" Jesse cursed as he saw what was going on, freezing in his tracks. 

Shalimar didn't waste any breath but jumped in and started pounding Geris, keeping him away from Brennan. "Emma.." Shalimar shouted after she knocked Geris down.

"He must be a hologram, I can't even get the impression of a shielded mind from him." Emma said shaking her head. She was kneeling at Brennan's side, taking his pulse and checking for severe wounds. He was bleeding badly from cuts on his head and back. He neck was starting to bruise from what looked like a chokehold and one of his legs was twisted in an unnatural way. Days of healing destroyed.

"Oh, damn, I'll try and shut it off." Jesse swore again and bolted to the computer.

"NO!" Both Emma and Adam jumped back as Brennan's eyes flew open and he sat up sharply.

"Brennan, be careful and lay down, you have to sto-" Adam laid his hands on Brennan's shoulders and tried to forcibly push him down, but Brennan shoved him away. Adam fell backwards just before a streak of electric power lanced from Brennan's hands to hit the hologram that Shal was pounding on. She managed to jump back a split second before the blue lightning hit and disintegrated its target.

"I did it." Brennan sighed, and slumped over.

******

"Well, it explains why he was such a bastard, but not why you created a hologram just like him and let it beat you to a bloody pulp on the floor of the dojo." Adam yelled at Brennan with his voice grating like a knife on concrete. Shalimar, Jesse, and Emma crowded around Brennan who was sitting, bandaged, on the lab chair while his back and leg muscles were mended once again. Shal had her arms around him protectively.

"I had to face him again. On my own terms. I hadn't planned," Brennan swallowed hard but his voice remained amazingly calm. "I hadn't planned on him getting the upper hand."

"You were barely healed, totally alone, and you obviously weren't thinking straight. _You could have been killed!_" Adam turned to face the wall, visibly trying to calm his shaking emotions.

"I wasn't. And I can tell you I will never do it again. I just… had to do it this time. I had to kill my demons myself." Brennan's voice was soft and low, his eyes on his feet.

Adam turned back around to face them, and they could see in his eyes the warring emotions of fear and trust. Gradually the trust won out and Adam smiled a little.

"I know. I know. But seeing you bloody twice is more than I ever want to see _ever again_, okay? Not even paper cuts." Adam teased lightly.

"Good thing I have an emergency supply of my own Band-Aids. Otherwise I'd be totally sunk." Brennan joked back.

"Oh, you can always come to me and Emma! We would take good care of you, not like this unfeeling man!" Shalimar said in a mock-girly voice.

"And I'm always good for a sympathetic ear, Brennan." Jesse said in a pseudo macho voice.

"Thanks, guys." Sincerity rang in Brennan's voice. He thanked them for letting him deal with his nightmares in his own way, for being there, and for being his family, all at once.

"You're welcome." Adam said, smiling as he saw the new healing that had occurred shining in Brennan's face.

******

Shalimar couldn't stop herself from smiling. She closed her eyes and relaxed into Brennan's strong grip. It was an incredible feeling to be able to feel protected by Brennan, instead of feeling like she had to protect him.

They hadn't had to speak the words out loud, but they had both silently admitted their feelings. There was a strange glint of amusement in Emma's eyes whenever she saw the two together, hugging or simply enjoying each other's company.

"Shal?" Brennan asked softly.

"Hm?" She responded, keeping her eyes closed.

"Thanks for taking me out the other night. It felt good to be out of Sanctuary."

"Just doing my job. Tomorrow your going back to work, buddy. You and I are going to be checking the safe house security systems and checking in with some new mutants in the Underground." Shalimar reminded him, sitting up slightly.

"Shal, are we good?" Brennan asked a little nervously. He knew that they didn't have to vocalize their feelings, at least he didn't, not yet. But he needed to make sure she felt the same way.

"Yeah, better than good. Just because we've got feelings for each other doesn't mean we have to jump in each other's beds right away. We can take it slow just like every other couple." She responded, sinking back into his hug.

"I really love you, Shal." Brennan said, and then held his breath. He hadn't meant to say that at all, but it had amazed him that she had known exactly what his fears were-that she would want to move to quickly in their relationship-and was willing to work with what he wanted as well.

"I know, Bren. I love you, too." Shalimar replied.

They sat that way, purely comfortable, for another few minutes, until Adams voice came over their com links, politely requesting their presence down in the lab.

"What do you think it is?" Brennan asked, and Shalimar shrugged.

"I don't know, let's find out." Shalimar grabbed his hand and they headed to the lab.

******

Adam was waiting outside the lab when they came down from Brennan's room. He smiled warmly when he saw them together.

"The GSA got an anonymous tip a few days ago. I'm decoding the reports now, and I thought you'd want to see them." He gestured for them to follow as he walked around the corner to a computer console where Jesse and Emma were already standing.

Emma's face was clear of any emotion at all- easy for her, since she was telepathic. Jesse was not having such an easy time, his lips held tightly closed and his eyebrows twitching almost nonstop.

"What's going on here, guys?" Brennan asked, worry threading his voice.

"Nothing, now come here and look at this." Adam waved them over to the computer as he typed furiously on the keyboard. "There!" He stepped back and allowed the rest of them to crowd around him.

The screen read _Decoding intercepted GSA reports. _

Tension and other unidentifiable but thick emotions permeated the silent room. Shalimar wrapped her arms around Brennan's waist and he draped his arms over her shoulders and Emma's shoulders. Emma followed suit and put her arms around Jesse and Adam, who both leaned into the group embrace. All eyes rested on the computer screen.

Brennan stopped breathing when the full report came up. No one breathed.

__

As of last night, Geris Caldmann, former GS agent and psionic, was apprehended. Due to his inability to operate on a normal level, he was placed in a stasis pod upon arrival at Genomex facilities.

Slowly a tear slipped down his cheek, soon to be followed by others.

Looking down, he saw that Shalimar was crying also.

Emma was smiling and almost laughing.

Jesse and Adam were grinning.

The group hug grew tighter. Shalimar looked over at Brennan. "So…the demons?"

"Running away fast." Brennan replied with a grin.

Their circle held tight. Brennan knew he still had some healing ahead, but together with his team, his family, he was already whole.

They were all whole.


End file.
